You are using an outdated browser.
Please upgrade your browser
and improve your visit to our site.
Skip Navigation

Hillary Clinton reportedly protected an alleged sexual harasser on her 2008 campaign.

Bryan Thomas/Getty Images

According to a New York Times report published Friday morning, Clinton knowingly shielded faith advisor Burns Strider against the recommendations of her own staff:

The complaint against Mr. Strider was made by a 30-year-old woman who shared an office with him. She told a campaign official that Mr. Strider had rubbed her shoulders inappropriately, kissed her on the forehead and sent her a string of suggestive emails, including at least one during the night, according to three former campaign officials familiar with what took place.

The complaint was taken to [Patti Solis] Doyle, the campaign manager, who approached Mrs. Clinton and urged that Mr. Strider, who was married at the time, be fired, according to the officials familiar with what took place. Mrs. Clinton said she did not want to, and instead he remained on her staff.

Strider’s victim, meanwhile, was moved to another job on the campaign. Strider not only kept his job, but retained his place in Clinton’s inner circle. The Times reports that in 2016, he got a new job working for David Brock at Correct the Record and American Bridge. He was fired from Correct the Record for “workplace issues, including allegations that he harassed a young female aide,” according to the Times.

During her second campaign for president, Strider made headlines for sending the candidate Bible verses every day; his influence was frequently cited as proof of Clinton’s Christian faith. Also in 2016, Politico reported that as secretary of state, Clinton directly helped Strider multiple times at his request:

He wrote an email directly to the secretary of state asking her to help the contractor—also a Clinton 2008 supporter—get “appropriate meetings” to try to snare two State Department contracts worth as much as $475 million for administrative support work.

...

In March 2011, he asked her to send a thank-you note to the Ploughshares Fund, and she told her aides to do so. Then, in May, he asked for introduction to an international agency, but the details were redacted. “I don’t know anyone but I’ll help if I can,” Clinton replied.

To summarize: Clinton ignored Strider’s alleged sexual harassment, moved his victim to a different a job on her campaign, then kept Strider in her orbit for years. It’s a damning story for an ostensibly feminist public figure—and it isn’t even the first time Clinton allegedly brushed aside such warnings. As the Times notes, Lena Dunham recently claimed that she informed Clinton during the 2016 race that Harvey Weinstein, a major Democratic fundraiser, was a “rapist.”